Look, I'm just going to bypass the religious debate for the time being and go to this point. Even if what you say is true..that the extremists are misinterpreting the texts in the Qu'ran and Hadiths, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to stop those who obviously disagree with you?

Let's just say, for the sake of the discussion, what you say is true. The fact remains that there are legions of Muslims all over the world, schooled by these Wahabbi funded Imams in their madrassas and mosques. And they are interpreting the Qu'ran and hadiths in a way to justify the killing and subjugation of infidels. They are preaching the return of the caliphate.

It doesn't matter what us "infidels" think these texts mean in the final analysis. Say I walk away from this conversation and I say to myself, "you know Tariq is probably right--these texts are just misinterpreted and these fire-breathing imams are just emphasizing the most violent ones to justify their actions and brainwash these children and illiterate people that they have control over." Let's say I think that. What does it change? They are still doing it. It's not just a "small minority of extremists." There are MILLIONS of these people. Now, there might be a minority who are actually willing (and qualified) to go out and carry out the actual attacks, but millions who sympathize with them, support them, and help them.

Don't you understand that it isn't us who you need to convince, but the ones who are tarnishing your religion? I'll tell you, as a Christian, iI would be outraged if a group like the KKK started getting funded by all the oil in Texas and co-opted Christianity and started spreading their hateful, supremacist ideology all around the world. If they managed to convince other Christians that it was our duty to convert, subjugate, or kill all those who weren't Christian, that non-Christians were inferior to us and should be treated as second-class citizens, the Pope and other Christian leaders would put the kibash to it real quick and so would all other Christians.

I wouldn't try to convince the non-Christians the KKK was trying to kill that this wasn't what Christianity was all about. Well I might spend some time on it, but my emphasis would be in smacking down the ones who "hijacked" my religion. Go after the ones who are tarnishing the name of Islam and causing people to regard it with fear and disdain.

You see proof of what I am saying as there are small, fringe Christian--and I use that term loosely--sects who do preach some really outrageous things, but THEY HAVE NO INFLUENCE OR POWER. They are completely marginalized, so much so that most people don't even know about them, and only used for comic relief. You cannot say the same for those who hold extremist beliefs in Islam.

I don't like Sharia Law, especially in its treatment of women. Look in Afghanistan right now there is a Christian man who converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago and he might now get the death penalty. What other religion puts people to death who leave their religion? No other! Some religions have excommunication or shunning, but nobody loses THEIR LIFE! How can you defend such a thing? Jesus said to judge not, lest you be judged. That doesn't mean you can never tell someone what they are doing is wrong; it means that God will be the final judge of that person's soul. But, in Islam they sentence a person to death for leaving Islam! Why not let God judge whether they did right or wrong? No, I don't like Sharia at all and I do not want it imposed on me or my society. That's what Muslims do when they get the chance. Now, if you can have Islam without Sharia then that would be another story, but I don't think that is possible, is it?

Hitler WAS NOT a practising Christian. He and the Nazis advocated going back to Nordic pagan roots, and they were also into the occult. They despised Christianity. There is nothing in the teachings of Jesus which could have been used to justify what the Nazis did, not even anything to "misinterpret."

And I'm not sure how moderate a person can be when they won't even admit that al Qaeda was responsible for 9/11. Did you miss the video December 2001 where Osama admits that they masterminded the whole thing and laughs about it? He also laughs because, except for the pilots, the other hijackers didn't even know they were on a suicide mission.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".